AT&T closes on $780M buy of Atlantic Tele-Network

AT&T has closed on its $780 million acquisition of Atlantic Tele-Network Inc., a wireless phone operator that operates under the Alltel brand with 590,000 subscribers.

The network covers about 4.5 million mostly rural residents in Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina.

AT&T says it will begin upgrading the network and will roll out its "4G LTE" service in former Alltel areas by late 2014.

Dallas-based AT&T Inc. will release its third-quarter results on Oct. 23. It said Friday that it expects to show growth its smartphone base by 1 million in the quarter, with higher smartphone upgrades than a year earlier, followed by a year-over-year decline in upgrades in the fourth quarter.